Learn how to read 1st grade

First Grade Reading Activities, Phonics Worksheets, Videos, Games, Listening

The 1^st Grade Level 1 Reading Program features a review of all the short vowels, beginning and ending consonants. Your children will learn words with the S blends, consonant digraphs ch, sh, th, wh and ph.  They will also learn the soft C and G sounds.

Printables & Powerpoint

These high quality pdf worksheets are pages from our phonics activity book for preschool. Worksheets are arranged by course progression. Some of the skills the children will learn include:

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Videos

You do not need to be a professional teacher to present the skills for this level. Our highly focused phonics video tutorials will easily do the job. Some of the videos include the following:

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Games

Kiz Phonics offers a variety of reading games for all kinds of learners. These activities often combine audio, visual and clicking to learn. Each activity is short and focused.

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Listening

The listening section of our first grade level 1 phonics program is in sync with the worksheets of this level. Print a worksheet you want to use and choose the audio from the playlist.

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Featuring Worksheets for First Grade Level 1

st blend word building
Learning st blend by building words

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sn blend word building
Learning sn blend by building words

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str blend word building
Learning str blend by building words

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s blends word search 
Learning st blend by doing this puzzle

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Featuring 1st Grade Phonics Games

Digraph /sh/, Phonics game to practice the consonant digraph /sh/

When two letters come together to make one sound, it is called…

Digraph ch, Phonics Flashcards

Practice the digraph 'ch' using these interactive phonics flipcards.…

Digraph /sh/, Phonics game to practice the consonant digraph /sh/

Digraphs are formed when two letters come together to make one…

Digraph sh, Phonics flipcards

Practice the sound of the digraph sh as in ship. Click on a card…

st beginning consonant S blend, phonics game

Learn and practice the st consonant blend. Listen, then drag…

st beginning consonant S blend, phonics flashcards

Learn and practice the beginning st consonant blends using these…

Consonant Digraph ‘ph’ Phonics Activity

Learn and practice the consonant digraph ‘ph‘ using this…

Consonant Digraph ‘ph’ Phonics Flashcard

Learn and practice the consonant digraph ‘ph‘ using this…

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Featuring 1st Grade Phonics Videos

'wh' digraph Phonics Video

This is a phonics video on the 'wh' digraph. Learn to sound out,…

'th' ending digraph Phonics Video

This is a phonics video on the 'th' ending digraph. Learn to…

'th' beginning digraph Phonics Video

This is a phonics video on the 'th' beginning digraph. Learn…

'sw' blends Phonics Video

This is a phonics video on the 'sw' blends. Learn to sound out,…

'str' blends Phonics Video

This is a phonics video on the 'str' blends. Learn to sound out,…

'st' blends Phonics Video

This is a phonics video on the 'st' blends. Learn to sound out,…

'sp' blends Phonics Video

This is a phonics video on the 'sp' blends. Learn to sound out,…

Soft 'g' Phonics Video

This is a phonics video on the soft 'g'. Learn to sound out,…

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Kiz Phonics iPad Apps

Preschool Phonics App (Phonics_Prek) Lite

Preschool Phonics App (Phonics_Prek)

Kindergarten Level 1 Phonics App (Phonics Kinder 1) Lite

Kindergarten Level 1 Phonics App (Phonics Kinder 1)

Kindergarten Level 2 Phonics App (Phonics Kinder 2) Lite

Kindergarten Level 2 Phonics App (Phonics Kinder 2)

1st Grade Level 1 Phonics App (Phonics 1st Grade 1) Lite

1st Grade Level 1 Phonics App (Phonics 1st Grade 1)

1st Grade Level 2 Phonics App (Phonics 1st Grade 2) Lite

1st Grade Level 2 Phonics App (Phonics 1st Grade 2)

2nd Grade Level 1 Phonics App (Phonics 2nd Grade 1) Lite

2nd Grade Level 1 Phonics App (Phonics 2nd Grade 1)

Phonics Sentence Monkey Game Lite

Phonics Sentence Monkey Game

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Preschool Reading - Ages 3-4

Learning to read starts here. From as low as 3 years, your child needs to build the following skills that will prepare him/her for reading. Print Awareness and Phonemic Awareness are the hallmarks of this level. We provide the following types of resources:

 Kindergarten Reading 1 - Ages 4-6

The Kindergarten Level 1 Reading Program,  is suitable for kids between the ages of 4 to 6. Children will learn short vowels a & e, beginning and ending consonant sounds. The will learn how to read words, sentences and 2 short stories.

Kindergarten Reading 2 - Ages 4-6

The Kindergarten Level 2 Reading Program,  is suitable for kids between the ages of 4 to 6. Children will learn short vowels i, o & u, ending and beginning consonants & digraphs. The will learn how to read words, sentences and 2 short stories.

1st Grade Reading 1 - Ages 6-7

The 1^st Grade Level 1 Reading Program features a review of all the short vowels, beginning and ending consonants. Your children will learn words with the S blends, consonant digraphs ch, sh, th, wh and ph.  They will also learn the soft C and G sounds.

1st Grade Reading 2 - Ages 6-7

The 1^st Grade Level 2 Phonics Program features the long a & i with the silent e. Kids will learn how the silent e changes the sounds of words. This level also includes vowel digraphs ai & ay, vowel digraphs ee & ea and final y as long e.

2nd Grade Reading 1 - Ages 7-8

The 2^nd Grade Level 1 Phonics Program features the long o & u with the silent e. This level also includes vowel digraphs like oa & ow, ui & ue and final y as long i. Special vowels like aw & ew will be also be learned.

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The Complete Guide For Parents

1st grade reading is only the beginning of your child’s lifelong journey toward becoming an enriched, excited reader!

HOMER is here with the essential information you need to figure out how you can help your child succeed with their 1st grade reading adventures, as well as how to have fun with reading!

The Essential Goals Of 1st Grade Reading

Phonological Awareness

Your first-grader will begin developing their phonological awareness skills before they even reach kindergarten, but these are the sort of skills that will help them for the rest of their life.

Building phonological awareness continues in first grade and means that your child understands how to manipulate, distinguish, and play with sounds and words.

They’ll learn how to tell the difference between spoken words, syllables within words, and random sounds. They will begin to isolate syllables in words and blend syllables to make words. Finally, they’ll learn to isolate individual sounds within words and blend sounds to make words.

These skills also mean they’ll have the ability to read words, both old and familiar, using their knowledge of phonics and their decoding skills.

With their strong grasp on phonological awareness, they’ll also have a higher success rate with spelling new words that are phonetically regular. This means even if they’ve never seen the word “rim” or “blink,” they’ll likely be able to spell it correctly on their first attempt.

Print Concepts

Advancing their knowledge of print concepts means your child isn’t just leveling up their reading — they’re expanding what they know about the boundaries of reading and writing!

Your first-grader will move beyond homogenous letter writing (writing in only uppercase or lowercase letters). Now they understand basic rules for capitalization along with punctuation rules. Periods, exclamation marks, question marks — your child will learn them all!

They may also be able to reliably pinpoint the emotional context of a sentence based on the ending punctuation. They’ll know when a sentence is supposed to be informative, inquisitive, or exciting.

Additionally, your child will learn that when it comes to books, there are many places to go to figure out the “roadmap” of a story! They’ll know where to find information about the book — like its title — and where they can find the name of the author or illustrator.

They will understand that nonfiction books often have captions with extra facts and that some books have glossaries that can help them to understand the meaning of challenging words.

That’s not all! They’ll learn how to make predictions about a text based on its cover, title, or illustrations. Afterward, they’ll be able to compare and contrast their initial guess with what they actually read.

Although your child may be able to draw some conclusions about what they read, remember they’re still young. Their insights may only work at a surface level.

This is perfectly OK! Even asking basic questions about the text read will help reinforce the idea that it is important to think about what we read.

Phonics

Phonics may sound a lot like phonological awareness. The two are related but not identical!

While phonological awareness refers to a generalized awareness of sounds and how they work within words (and outside of them as broader sounds), phonics deals specifically with letter sounds.

Phonics involves linking letters and combinations of letters with specific sounds. Children with a strong foundation in phonics can correctly and consistently link alphabetic letters with associated sounds to decode unfamiliar words.

At the 1st-grade reading level, children are expected to use phonics to decode phonetically regular words.

They will learn how to read words with short vowels (like cap and cub), words that use a silent E to create long sounds (like cape and cube), words with beginning and ending blends (like skunk and twist), and words with consonant digraphs (like mash and ship).

Through phonics, your child will begin to understand how essential vowels are to word formation. No matter how you slice it, every English word has at least one vowel sound. In fact, every syllable has a vowel sound — and only one vowel sound!

They’ll use these skills to break apart longer words into smaller, more manageable syllables. As your child becomes more comfortable decoding words, they’ll be able to apply the emotional inflection of a sentence (usually conferred by punctuation) while reading words.

Fluency

Fluent reading doesn’t mean your child can read anything on the market. It simply means that they are developing the ability to read with acceptable speed, accuracy, and expression at their determined reading level.

While reading, first-graders will appropriately utilize context clues and illustrations to aid the fluency of their reading. They’ll be able to understand almost anything that appears on the page (as long as the book is in their reading level!)

Their reading will feature emotional expression and, when applicable, slower moments when they need to sound out new, grade-appropriate words. The next time they revisit the story, they should read the word a little bit smoother!

Comprehension

Your first-grader is starting to get a sense of how big the world around them really is (and how much bigger their imagination can be!).

This means that through reading and learning, they’ll gain a little bit more baseline knowledge of all sorts of subjects. This is what reading comprehension is all about!

Comprehension will help them remember what they’re reading as well as consider the goals of the text in front of them (is it for informing or entertaining?).

While reading, they’ll learn to identify words or phrases that suggest specific feelings, compare and contrast the experiences of different characters, and pinpoint the main character in the story.

They’ll be able to draw conclusions from these different sources of information and express opinions about what they uncover in the text. They may also begin to relate these thoughts and ideas to their own experiences.

Skills Needed To Master 1st Grade Reading

Before beginning 1st grade reading, your child will need to know some things to jump-start their new learning adventures.

Firm Grasp On Letters

Ideally, your child will come into first grade with a strong grasp of the alphabet!

They should be able to not only recognize letters but correctly pair letters with the sounds they make. They should be able to differentiate between uppercase and lowercase letters, as well.

Your child may already know how to spell or read a few consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words, too. If not, there’s no need to worry! This is a skill they’ll work on more as they go through first grade.

For now, focusing on your child’s letter and letter-sound practice will get them primed for 1st grade reading.

Ability To Pinpoint Evidence

While reading, your child will probably express opinions about a character or plot point of the story. By first grade, they may be able to explain what gives them those opinions — in other words, identify evidence in a text.

We encourage you to give your child an extra nudge in the right direction by asking how they know what they know. You may be surprised to hear what they say!

This also gives you a chance to double-check that your child knows a text can give them all the evidence they need to support their conclusions.

Using Words To Express Ideas

What better way to use all the new words your child is learning than by expressing themselves?

The best way to help your child learn to use words to express ideas — and, as a result, prepare them for first grade — is to read and talk to them. Doing both allows you to help your child develop not just a love of reading but a strong desire to be a reader.

Talking with children also enhances their receptive language (their ability to understand what is said to them) and their expressive language (their ability to express their ideas accurately and thoughtfully).

It’s simple but so effective: taking the time to read to and have real conversations with your child can help their reading development so much!

Master 1st Grade Reading With HOMER

The skills your child learns as a first-grader will help them on their reading journey for the rest of their life. Not only that, but there is so much fun and excitement waiting for them just beneath those colorful covers!

Getting the hang of the skills needed for 1st grade reading will take time, but with practice and patience, we know your child will get where they need to go!

And may they never forget that reading is one of the most exciting things they’ll ever learn how to do! It opens up a world of possibilities and imagination, all ready for their exploration anytime and anywhere.

We at HOMER hope that this guide has you feeling ready and relaxed about what your child will achieve during 1st grade reading lessons.

We’re always here to lend a helping hand in your child’s learning journey, especially through our Learn & Grow app. We want your child to feel like the whole world is at their fingertips, and with our personalized reading activities, it can be!

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How to teach non-reading children to read? Methodology from the work experience of a primary school teacher

Parents in the preparatory year before school are concerned about the question: “Is it necessary to teach children to read before entering school or let the teacher teach?”

Previously, during the Soviet preschool education, the kindergarten program provided for the gradual teaching of children to read and write, starting from the toddler age of 1. 5 years.

* Nursery - pronunciation of sounds, names of objects, grouping (dishes, toys, furniture, etc.)

* Junior group - isolating sounds, show the object on M, what sound the word "mother" begins with

* Middle group - learn to distinguish between soft and hard consonants (by-bi, ma-mya)

* Senior and preparatory group - sound-letter analysis, study of letters, syllabic reading.

In modern kindergartens, such training has now been canceled, it's good if they are engaged in educational games. And the first grade program is designed for the fact that the child has already passed these stages. At the lesson, he gets acquainted with a new sound and letter, learns to distinguish between vowels and consonants, reads syllables and words, writes the studied letter. In the next lesson - a new letter. If there are many children in the class, then each teacher can take 2 minutes to read the syllables. Do you think your child will be able to learn to read at school if you do not consolidate the passed letter at home? Often, when you ask your parents to read syllables at home, they say: “He doesn’t listen to me, doesn’t want to read” or “Why did I send him to school, so you teach.” Therefore, my advice is for those parents who are not indifferent to the fate of their own child.

Where to start?

To begin with, remember a few simple rules, without them you will not succeed.

1. Teaching should be non-coercive and arouse the child's interest in reading. Carry out only in the form of a game.

2. Be patient, if your child is even a child prodigy (in your opinion), the letter will not be acquired as quickly as you would like.

3. Do not release unflattering epithets to the student (you are stupid, I have already shown it 3 times), and in particular do not raise your voice. Put yourself in his place, imagine what you need to learn, for example: Chinese in a week. Well, how do you pull?

4. "Repetition is the mother of learning." In the head of the baby, everything should have time to be laid out on the shelves, this takes time.

5. Pay attention to the slightest progress in reading, brag about them in front of your family, especially at the initial stage. This will raise the prestige of reading (Dad, and our Vlad has already learned 5 letters. Do you want to listen?)

6. Never compare your child with others in studies. (Neighbor Mila is already reading the words. And you are confusing the letters). This is very painful for children. They lose faith in themselves. (I'm stupid with you.)

7. Don't get ahead of yourself. We learn consistently. From easy to difficult. But do not take long breaks, otherwise you will have to start all over again, what you have learned is quickly forgotten. Little by little is better, but every day.

8. Do not use the school curriculum and textbooks, then your child will not be interested in school. Buy the "ABC in Pictures" or find the "Primer" from the Soviet era. It is the easiest to learn.

9. Don't teach your child to write, leave it to the school. For the development of finger motor skills, learn to carefully paint without going beyond the lines, and simply draw, sculpt, make applications, lay out mosaics.

10. Buy books by V. Volina from the series "Learning while playing." This is your guide. You can start learning.

I use three different techniques for teaching reading: sound-letter analysis, syllabic reading, reading with ready-made words. The first one is used in school. Students study sound in detail: vowel, consonant; hard, soft; voiced, deaf; iotated. It is very difficult for home schooling, so I always warn parents, do not teach your child to read letter by letter, because then it is difficult to retrain him to read in syllables. Syllabic reading implies the repetition of the finished syllable after the parents, reading with ready-made words is similar. It is especially valuable for children with developmental disabilities, for example, I have a deaf-mute son, and this is how I taught him to read and speak.

Starting training:

They brought home a new toy: the alphabet. It can be in pictures, cubes, sound, a book with letters and poems to them. Start looking at it with your child. Pictures will draw him in. Ask the question: “What is shown in the picture?” Two or three days just getting to know the drawings, do not rush the process, let the interest be born.

Now you can start studying vowels: a, i, o, y, s, e.

Their 6.

A is the first letter in your alphabet. We call the picture a word (watermelon) and draw out the first sound.

What sound did the word begin with? We show the child the letter A, carefully examine it. What does it look like? Most often, children say "roof", but the more you come up with associations with them, the stronger it will be remembered. If there are subject pictures in the house, then we lay out those where the word begins with A.

First, 3-5 (orange, fish, bus, watermelon, elephant), say with the child and ask him to choose those that start with A. If you have a book by V. Volina “Learning by playing”, then start beating the letter on it . If not, then show your creative abilities, come up with poems about a letter or a fairy tale, in which there are a lot of words in A.

“Two pillars diagonally, in the middle there is a corbel. Look what! The letter A is in front of you.

“The stork is eating a big watermelon. Looking scarlet. What about the taste? He himself will not make out whether it is sugar or honey.

I hope you remember these verses from your childhood?

Didactic games:

"Who can come up with the most A words?" (you can name), “Kuzovok” (put items on A in the basket). Print vowels on a color printer in red, in large print, and as you study, stick them on household items (A - aquarium), etc.

After studying these letters, we begin to sing a song of vowels every day, namely to sing, and not to read: E E E.

Then we compose the first syllables from vowels (we print on a sheet, font 72) and pronounce it drawlingly, we draw the first sound until the child realizes which is the second one (We conduct the lesson for no more than 5 minutes).

AU AI AO AY AE UA IA OA YA EA UI OI OY UY until fully assimilated, it will take 2-3 days at first.

Now we begin to study consonants

(M W B C D D G K L N P R S T) and compile speed reading tables with them (the first in large print, the next ones are reduced gradually). We read using the “Echo” technique, read 5 syllables yourself, the child repeats.

Glue the same syllables on separate cardboard boxes and play Hide and Seek. Hide the cards around the room so that they are easy to find. When the child has found a card, he must read the syllable or word, or rather, it turns out to be a repetition by heart, the syllables are remembered visually. Search in turn, then you, then the child. This helps in the game to repeat the syllables several times and gives him confidence that he can read.

Table 1.

ma sha da pa ba ga heat ra sa la ka va mama Masha Mara heat soot porridge Kama sama Sara lady llama Lara our your Dasha rama is happy papa Pasha couple ward baba tara Natasha panama loon (this is cut on separate cards for hide-and-seek ).

After a slow assimilation, we move on to the game: "Finish". Who will read faster. If there is no interest in reading, then connect toys, read for dolls, bears, play school.

Table 2.

moro bo do polo no soto fashion water soda dew scythe loto swamp chisel harrow beard breed weather deck magpie crow gate cow straw leg mountain road shovel

Table 3. (before the mirror, show the position of the lips when pronouncing I, S)

mi we bi would vi you guides ki li ly ni ni pi pi ry si sy ti you zhi shi soap cute mouse bear were beat poured out pitchfork weights legs of water marvel movie fox linden bast horses they elephants drank dust fish lynx burrows power

Tables should be repeated daily for fluent assimilation. An adult can sometimes read a word incorrectly. Let the child correct you. This develops attention to the word and maintains reader interest. Now learn the vowels E, Yo, Yu, Ya (pronounced YE, YO, YU, YA)

Table 4. (U, Yu) (E, E) (E, O) (A, Z)

mu bu bu gu gu du du du put tu tu ru ryu su xiu nu nu flour hand beads geese duda soul duma puma dune tour tyurya hand poryu suma sum here nougat nunya paper sleeves soups menu I give sing I play salt it ate these raccoon mayor chalk chalk they say the ox led the floor sang aunt uncle small crumpled the hedgehog ruff Tom Tyoma Tanya Manya

Table 5

for fa cha tsa morning dawn charge headlight phase pheasant hut hala bathrobe swell chick thicket grove dacha luck task tea gull miracle I want to fly teach May my sing pay lei this pity naley roy T-shirt jay milking washing watering can